I Hope You Have a Good Life

Tami is working at the bathroom between the two hogans. She goes in and out a couple times and then goes to set a bucket down and see the Midget Faded rattlesnake curled up in the shade. Her and Chris put it in a large trash can and take it down to the garage and call me. The two ways I've caught them is to set a trash can down and push a broom towards it. They want to go in the trash can so they only worry about a predator, us, coming from one direction. Or get grilling tongs and grab the snake three quarters of the way back so it can't bite you.

In the old days I would take them down to Lockhart Basin and drop them off but they'd make their way back in a week. They have some sort of radar that keeps them from going more than a mile from where they are born. I determined it's a straight line so after a few years of them returning I started taking them down toward Chicken Corner, climbing down a sketch game trail, to the bottom by the river, and releasing them there. That's this one's future. Karen, a guest, hears about the plan and says she wants to go on an adventure so the following morning we head out in her vehicle. The game trail is not visible from the road so what I look for is a deer or big horn track heading toward the cliff. I see one. We park and I head down the cliff face with my friend. Karen is coming behind me but she has her dog and as soon as I release it the dog will go for it so she returns to the vehicle. I release it where I've released 10 or 15 others.